From the sound of the Washington Post story on French president Sarkozy’s deportation of illegal-alien Gypsies from Romania and Bulgaria, you’d think France was up in arms at this outrageous act. The headline reads “Sarkozy’s crackdown on Roma camps adds fuel to criticism at home and abroad,” and this is the lede:

Much of France has returned from summer vacation in a rancorous mood, disturbed by a crackdown ordered by President Nicolas Sarkozy against illegal Roma camps and naturalized immigrant youths who attack police in troubled suburbs.

The report continues:

But the unease over the action against illegal Roma immigrants, most from Romania and Bulgaria, has been particularly strong, with the expulsions drawing criticism at home and abroad.

For many, such policies undermine France’s idea of itself as a haven for exiles and a beacon for human rights. Similar fears of intolerance were raised in July when, at Sarkozy’s urging, the National Assembly passed a law banning women from wearing full-face Islamic veils in public.

A U.N. human rights panel sharply criticized Sarkozy’s actions against the Roma camps last week and called on him to halt the campaign. Pope Benedict XVI, speaking in French to make sure the message was received, called on Catholics to respect human diversity. Taking the church’s criticism one step further, the archbishop of Toulouse, Robert Le Gall, suggested a parallel with France’s expulsion of Jews during the Nazi occupation in World War II.

In the political arena, the policies have generated protests from Sarkozy’s opponents, on the right as well as the left. Former prime minister Dominique de Villepin, once Sarkozy’s boss and now his adversary, said the president’s actions have stained the French flag. The opposition Socialist leader, Martine Aubry, called Sarkozy’s policies a “shame” for the country.

Only when you get to the seventh paragraph do you learn that:

In a recent poll, two-thirds of those queried approved of the campaign . . .

So, the public supports the immigration-enforcement moves by at least two to one and yet they’re “fueling criticism” in “much of France” where “for many” it “raises fears of intolerance.” Unbelievable.